A variety of hockey pucks have been developed for use in roller hockey, a game played on hard non-ice surfaces by players on roller skates, usually in-line roller skates. These pucks are designed to minimize friction between the puck and the playing surface and to otherwise simulate the behavior of a hockey puck as is used in the game of ice hockey. In spite of these developments, the game of street hockey suffers in comparison with the game of ice hockey because of the inadequacy of the puck in reducing friction with the relatively rough non-ice surface and the debilitating effects on the puck which derive from extensive use.
Several previously patented designs have attempted to overcome such deficiencies by employing roller balls embedded in the body of a puck. However, several problems are systemic to this strategy. The ball gives little mechanical advantage in terms of reducing friction since the surface of the ball when rolling must also slide against the inner wall of the puck body in which it is embedded. Also, the friction of the balls with the inner walls is increased by the inevitable toughening of the balls' surfaces which accompanies usage. Further, the balls are constantly accumulating debris from the street and transferring it to the space between the balls and the puck body, thereby decreasing performance still further.
In contrast to a ball mounted in a puck body, the simple wheel presents advantages in terms of the leverage provided by the difference in wheel diameter and the wheel axle diameter. But since the simple wheel can roll in only one direction, although reversible, it does not solve the problem presented by the requirement that the puck must be free to travel in any direction immediately upon being contacted with the hockey stick, even though multiple wheels may be provided. In addition, the provision of castors for the puck body is unsatisfactory because of the characteristic behavior of castors in having to re-direct themselves depending on the direction of travel which makes for an undesirable motion of the puck when being re-directed.